US Marks 25th Anniversary of September 11 Attacks

The United States is preparing to mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on Friday, with memorial ceremonies planned at Ground Zero in New York, the Pentagon, and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The attacks, carried out by 19 al-Qaeda hijackers who seized four commercial airliners, killed 2,977 people and remain the deadliest terror attack in American history. On Wednesday night, a drone light display over Lower Manhattan projected 2,977 lights into the sky, converging to form the silhouette of the Twin Towers. The display came two days before the official anniversary ceremony and represents a technological evolution of the original Tribute in Light installation, which first illuminated the sky in March 2002 using 88 searchlights arranged in two columns. In New York, the annual reading of the names of the victims will begin at 8:30 a.m. on the Memorial Plaza, with seven moments of silence marking the moments the planes struck, the towers fell, and a seventh honoring those who died from 9/11-related illnesses. Nearly 2,753 people were killed in New York, including 343 firefighters and 23 police officers. Former Presidents George W.